The cure for jealousy

Pastor Pat Duffin

According to the Bible, jealousy is the universal impulse of all human endeavours unless the heart is ruled by God’s Spirit. In his sunset years, the wisest man who ever lived — the man who had seen it all and tried it all, Solomon, wrote: “Then I saw that all toil and all skill in work comes from a man’s envy of his neighbour. This also is vanity and a striving after wind. Better is a handful of quietness than two hands full of toil and a striving after wind.” (Ecclesiastes 4:4,6) Jealousy is totally selfish and ruthless. It cares only for itself and is the most common motive for violence and cruelty. “Wrath is fierce and anger is a flood. But who can stand before jealousy?” (Proverbs 27:4) “Jealousy is cruel as the grave: the coals thereof are coals of fire, which hath a most vehement flame.” (Song of Solomon 8:6) We all wrestle with envy’s power to one degree, or other. Jealousy can lurk in the heart of even the most spiritual person, silently influencing our thoughts and actions. “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked. Who can know it?” (Jeremiah. 17:9) Cain was the first murderer, moved by jealousy of his brother, Able. Joseph was sold into slavery because of the envy of his brothers. (Genesis 37:1-11) Israel’s first king was consumed by jealousy as he tried to eliminate David as his rival to the throne. (1 Samuel 18:8) Pontius Pilate saw through the motivation of the religious leaders who wanted to crucify Jesus, so he offered them Barabbas in order to prove their hearts. Barabbas represented everything they claimed to condemn while Jesus stood for everything they claimed to uphold. “When therefore they were gathered together, Pilate said to them, ‘Whom do you want me to release for you? Barabbas, or Jesus who is called Christ?’ For he knew that because of envy they had delivered Him up.” (Matthew 27:17-18) We are always comparing ourselves with others, without even thinking about it. We instinctively measure our worth by comparing our status, our possessions, our reputation, our good looks and vitality, our place in the social pecking order. We live in a performance orientated world where competition is everything and there is only one winner. The end result is insecurity and narcissism. When we fail to compare favourably we feel rejected and worthless. We are quick to resent the success of others. We secretly rejoice over other people’s setbacks and failures. Sometimes we openly criticize others because it somehow makes us feel superior, at least to them. The Apostle James warns us about the destructive deception of self-pride. “But if you have bitter jealousy and selfish ambition in your heart, do not be arrogant and so lie against the truth.” (James 3:14) In other words, we need to see ourselves as we really are. We are not who someone else says we are. Nor are we characterized by how we tend to personally describe ourselves. We are defined by what God says about us. Healthy self-esteem must be established and rooted in truth; otherwise it is merely a fantasy - an unreal, illusory view of self that blows this-way and that-way with the vagaries of our situation, mood and attitude. There is no stability to be found in that. The Bible is God’s Word. As such it is truth and is reliable in defining who we are. The Bible says we are “fearfully and wonderfully made” (Psalm 139:14) and we need never envy one another. You are an original creation. There is no one like you on the planet — never has been, and never will be. You are one of a kind and as such are rare and precious. Only you can fulfill your destiny and occupy your place in this creation. Therefore, rejoice in your uniqueness and be secure in God’s never-ending love which is able to overcome every fault, every failure, every sin. There is no need to envy one another. Simply be reconciled to Jesus Christ through His sacrifice on the cross. Confess your sin to Christ and ask for His forgiveness and receive His free gift of reconciliation and restoration. When you receive Christ into your life, you receive God. “In Christ dwells all the fullness of Deity.” (Colossians 2:9) Therefore, when you have God in your life you have wealth and worth beyond measure. Everything becomes new. The New Life Translation says it very well: “So we have stopped evaluating others from a human point of view. At one time we thought of Christ merely from a human point of view. How differently we know Him now! This means that anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun! And all of this is a gift from God, who brought us back to himself through Christ. And God has given us this task of reconciling people to him.”